Based on the aggregated intelligence of 135,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, independent petroleum producer Stone Energy  (NYSE:SGY) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Stone's business and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

Stone facts

Headquarters (founded)

Lafayette, La. (1993)

Market Cap

$359.5 million

Industry

Independent Oil & Gas

Trailing-12-month revenue

$724 million

Management

President/CEO David Welch

CFO Kenneth Beer

Compound annual revenue growth (over last five years)

8.4%

Other highly rated oil and gas stocks

ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM)

BP (NYSE:BP)

Chevron (NYSE:CVX)

CAPS members bullish on SGY also bullish on

Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK)

Transocean (NYSE:RIG)

CAPS members bearish on SGY also bearish on

Denbury Resources (NYSE:DNR)

Sources: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's, and Motley Fool CAPS. TTM = trailing 12 months.

Over on CAPS, fully 384 of the 404 members who have rated Stone -- some 95% -- believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include All-Star IBDvalueinvestin, who is ranked in the top 5% of our community, and DepthMigration.

Two weeks ago, IBDvalueinvestin tapped Stone as a rock-solid turnaround story:

The same fundamentals that drove it to $60 last year will do it again in next 3 years. There is no hope that Oil & Gas won't get back to 2008 highs, it's just a question of how fast will it occur. In the meantime you can look at [Stone] eps estimates and see that they have all been raised up dramatically within the last week.

In a pitch from last month, DepthMigration kindly updated Fools on Stone's recent find:

[Stone] has been beaten down severely, largely due to their debt load. Exploration success has been pretty dreadful over the past few years. However, the recent Pyrenees discovery in the Garden Banks area of the Gulf of Mexico is significant, and is likely to be larger than announced. In addition, Stone and partners have acquired a very material position nearby. Pyrenees, while not guaranteeing success of course, reduces risk on those additional prospects, with potentially very high reserve volumes.

What do you think about Stone, or any other stock for that matter? Make your voice heard on Motley Fool CAPS today. More than 135,000 investors are waiting to hear what you have to say. CAPS is 100% free, so simply click here to get started.